Getting Things Done

Well, Gerbean's post on The Next Exit was wildly informative, as usual, and the philosophy on "places I want to go on this interstate" triggered this entry.

I'm curious about the folk wisdom kids remember from their elders. The little sayings and such that we carry with us. Like Marble Lady's "if it's not yours don't touch it." One that my chilipeppers probably got sick of hearing was "if you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else."

I went out for a long walk last night around midnight. The wind was blowing and the smell of trees, earth and stream shifted me out of my mental ruts for a while. The moon was waning, always a good time to reflect rather than act. (And, in the spirit of the interstate factoids, you can tell if the moon is waxing or waning by which side the light is on; if it's lit on the left it's waning.) I started thinking about this rut I've been in the last couple of weeks and re-organizing some priorities. Sometimes it seems too easy to fall into a routine and spend so much time with the urgent stuff that we forget the important stuff. It seems like we're getting stuff done and being productive, but it's not anything of real consequence. That's what was on my mind at odd intevals, between just enjoying the night and that feeling of the world as fresh, like it was as children.

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance ---it is the illusion of knowledge." It was this thought that was keeping me company on my walk. Challenging me about what I was discovering about life and what I thought I knew that was throwing blinders on the most incredible ride ever experienced. This thought was an old guide that joined me as a child, but I only found those words for it later. I got it in answer to the only serious prayer I had ever made as a child, made with all my heart and soul, with heart-sick tears welling in my eyes and with every fibre of my being ---I prayed to God for wisdom. That guide was what she gave me.